This ringer is so much more than just a doorbell

I’ve had a Ring Doorbell next to my front door forever. The sheer utility and security it provides has kept it firmly camped in my “must-have” gadget list. Ring has now launched its latest version, the Battery Doorbell Pro, which means my front door gets an upgrade. Here’s what I found.

On paper, there’s a metric tonne of cool stuff to like. It has radar technology that confers it with some seriously nifty superpowers. There’s 3D Motion Detection, which allows the Ring to comprehensively scan anyone entering within its range. Then there’s what Ring call Bird’s Eye View, which shows where people wander on an overhead map. Add to this people, package, pet detection and Alexa Integration, and the ability to go with a wire-free installation, and you’ve got a compelling bundle of smart doorbell goodness.

The Battery Doorbell Pro sports the same silver-on-black design as earlier models. It’s no shrinking violet, with a chunky 129.5 (L) x 60.9mm (W) body needed to house the bundled battery.

Mounting it was incredibly straightforward. Before I started, I ensured its battery was fully charged and scanned the tiny QR code on the battery housing to get set up. The set-up process took just shy of five minutes, and, as with earlier Ring Doorbells, was a bomb-proof undertaking. As all the mounting hardware comes bundled, I was able to screw the included angle bracket (which ensures the camera looks down the length of my front porch) to my doorframe and attach the doorbell in just a few minutes. Before attaching the doorbell, I also connected the wires from my old-school manual doorbell power supply (checking first that it met Ring’s required voltage type) so the battery would continually charge.

While mounting the Battery Doorbell Pro on my older home’s wide door frame was a doddle, your mileage may vary depending on the material your door frame/house is built out of. My advice is to hatch a plan before attempting installation and, if need be, watch the many YouTube tutorial videos before starting.

The Battery Pro’s 1536p camera delivered a sharp image with accurate colours. Integrated HDR also meant that colours and shadows or light sources don’t blow out, so identifying anyone approaching the door is a doddle.

A key selling point for many will be the 150-degree field of view. This meant that I could see anyone from top to bottom when they were at my door, and there was nowhere for anyone to hide. The other improvement I noticed was its colour night vision. The captured nighttime video was noticeably clearer than the already good video in the earlier version, and some colour hues were noticeable. Motion blur was also significantly reduced.

The other reason I’ve stuck with Ring’s smart doorbells is their ability to accurately detect and differentiate between people and say, a tree branch moving on a typical windy Wellington day. With the Battery Pro, radar combines with AI in what Ring calls 3D Motion Detection. Cleverly, with a ring subscription, this feature can even tell the difference between a person and a person carrying a delivery package, both of which are reflected in alert notifications. The Bird’s Eye View feature allows the radar to track visitors’ steps and display them on an overhead map, showing their travel to and from my front door.

One of the big benefits of a Ring smart doorbell is that you can answer the door even if you are not home. With couriers delivering and picking up review goodies on a daily basis, being able to use my phone to receive alerts and see/talk to couriers is a godsend. To this end, the Battery Pro’s built-in camera and mic/speaker captured and delivered clear audio as well as prerecorded messages if I was not able to respond to phone alerts when away from home.

Thankfully, using the Battery Pro doesn’t require a degree in rocket science thanks to the Ring app. Its intuitive layout and simple timeline display make checking notifications dead easy. Ring app aside, Ring is owned by Amazon, so unsurprisingly, it plays nice with Alexa, which can announce motion detection events. If you have an Echo Show Display or a Fire Stick, you can also get to see a live video feed and talk to whoever is at the front door, which is super handy. Even niftier still, you can link smart home devices to the Battery Pro so that it can switch on lights, music, and other gadgets if it detects motion.

Last but by no means least, the Ring app also has modes which allow you to arm or disarm all the Ring cameras set up around your home. Sadly, this feature doesn’t play nice with other smart home ecosystems, limiting its usefulness to Ring and Amazon products. Here’s hoping the upcoming Matter protocol will remedy this.

While there is a lot to like with the Battery Pro, there is a gotcha. It has no local storage, so you either subscribe to a Ring Protect plan or you can’t save/share video footage. The lack of subscription can render the Battery Pro about as effective as a cat door on the front of a nuclear submarine. That said, subscriptions are not hugely expensive. They will store up to 180 days of video and give you specific motion detection alerts (such as a person, a package, or even a vehicle). Subs will set you back $4.95 per month or $49.95 per year for the basic plan, and $15/$150 for the Pro Plus plan.

All told, the Battery Pro is impressive. There is plenty to like about its sheer ease of installation and use, but the biggest bonus is that everything works out of the box.

https://ring.com/au/en/collections/all-products

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